Seventy per cent of Royal Mail larger delivery offices will be open on Christmas Eve this year, as the postal operator offers extended festive opening hours as part of its substantial financial commitment to Christmas mail and parcel deliveries.

Around 50 per cent of Royal Mail’s delivery office collection points are now also open on a Sunday for customers to pick up parcels or other mail items.

The company has been operating extended opening hours in over 1,200 delivery offices in the main cities and towns across the UK during December to offer additional convenience to its customers collecting parcels. Details are available in delivery offices.

The company has already recruited 20,000 seasonal workers and opened six temporary parcel sort centres to deal with the festive mailbag.

Royal Mail’s 1,400 delivery offices are currently open six days a week. Almost half are already open later on Wednesday evenings for customers to collect items.

Sue Whalley, Royal Mail’s chief operations officer, said: “Extending the reach of our delivery office openings across the UK this Christmas Eve and throughout the festive season ensures that our customers get the very best service at this busy time of year.”

During December, large city delivery offices are open from 06.30 until 17.30 each day with late night opening days and on Sundays. Christmas opening hours details are available in each delivery office.